As Toll Rises, Europe Warns Bangladesh

ENLARGE

Rescue workers carried a victim's remains from the Rana Plaza building on Sunday, 11 days after it collapsed.
Reuters

By

Syed Zain Al-Mahmood

May 5, 2013 3:57 p.m. ET

DHAKA, Bangladesh—The death toll from the April 24 collapse of a building housing garment factories rose to 622 on Sunday, after bulldozers reached the ground floors, uncovering many badly decomposed bodies 11 days after the tragedy.

Separately, a large rally called by an Islamist pressure group descended into chaos in Dhaka on Sunday, further clouding the outlook for Bangladeshi garment exporters, which say they have been badly hurt by weeks of political unrest. Police confirmed that at least three people died Sunday, after police and ruling-party activists confronted Islamists in the city center. Police said they had to open fire to maintain law and order.

Meanwhile, Europe's top trade official criticized labor conditions for some in Bangladesh as "modern slavery" and warned that the European Union would consider suspending Bangladesh's duty-free access to its market if steps aren't taken soon.

The Bangladesh Factory Collapse

"Now we see that…these people are, well, we can't say underpaid, they are virtually unpaid and above all, they have to work in sanitary and security conditions that are totally unacceptable," EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht told Belgian media outlets RTBF and Le Soir over the weekend. "It's some kind of modern slavery."

Mr. De Gucht said he would meet in coming weeks with European and U.S. clients of Bangladeshi factories to develop "a code of conduct" on ties to suppliers. "They can't say that they are blind" to what is happening, he said.

Mr. De Gucht said if Bangladeshi authorities fail to take quick action to improve labor standards, he would consider suspending Bangladesh's access to an EU system that allows poorer countries to export everything except arms free of quotas or import duties.

"They must deal with this and do so in a very clear and immediate timetable," he said. "If not, I am ready to launch an inquiry…which could lead to the suspension of this 'all except arms' mechanism as we've done in the past with Myanmar and Sri Lanka."

Industrial Disasters in Asia

Track some deadly factory fires, building collapses and other industrial disasters in Asia over the past three decades.

In Savar, relatives of those missing in the collapse of the Rana Plaza building continued to hold a vigil at the site on Sunday, clutching photos of their loved ones. But army officers coordinating the rescue said the decomposition of the bodies is making identification difficult. They said grieving families may have to wait for DNA tests to take possession of the remains of their family members.

Since the April 24 collapse, Bangladesh's worst industrial accident, police have arrested Sohel Rana, the building's owner, and the owners of the five garment factories housed in the building. No one has been charged with a crime. The men and their lawyers couldn't be reached for comment. The mayor of the local council, who allegedly issued the building permit without mandatory safety clearance, has been suspended.

Police also have detained two engineers of the Savar municipality, who police and state prosecutors said were involved in issuing permits for the Rana Plaza building. They haven't been charged. Instead of going to a central building-safety agency, the owner of the building is alleged to have illegally obtained clearance from the Savar council, according to police and state prosecutors. The men and their lawyers couldn't be reached to comment.

Workers and labor-rights groups have long called for better regulation of working conditions in Bangladesh's garment industry, the world's biggest after China. The issue escalated last year when a Bangladeshi factory, Tazreen Fashions, burned down in late November, killing more than 100 people, in what before the Rana Plaza collapse was the country's worst industrial accident.

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